The bare essentials: four wheels, an engine . . .
The bare essentials: four wheels, an engine . . .
Driving a Lotus 7 truly may be the most fun you can have with your clothes on; however, I have never driven a Lotus fully clothed. To operate the pedals, I have to remove one shoe -- right or left, depending on the model. Certainly, the experience is worth that inconvenience.
Lotus designer Colin Chapman championed an insight that directs modern racing: a lightweight car with a small engine can go fast. Cleverly, he also discerned that more people want fast cars than can afford to buy them. Chapman's answer was a car kit, the Lotus 7. Adaptable to your favorite small powerplant -- including some never envisioned by Chapman, such as Mazda rotary -- Lotus 7's simple, agile chassis is the stuff of a low-bucks racer's dream.
Lotus 7 is one of few street-legal cars more fun to drive than a Bugeye.